Face Painting
by Greek Wise Girl
Summary: Percy was face painting in a carnival. During his break, he went to a pizza parlor and there he met Annabeth, the girl with the gray eyes. From sharing a table to painting an owl on her face, where else would their encounter lead? Slightly OOC


**Disclaimer: **The _Percy Jackson & The Olympians_ series are not mine. They belong to Rick Riordan.

**Note: **A product of boredom so no assurance of quality Percabeth moment. I mean it is still Percabeth, just not at its best. Enjoy, nonetheless.

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**Face Painting**

Out of all the other students who face painted in the fair, Percy was the one who was requested the most. The little kids, mostly the girls, asked their mothers to have their face painted by Percy. Rachel who sat on the booth next to him said that it was because of his looks. He definitely wasn't bad looking. The little girls seemed to have a crush on him, too. One of the little squirts told him he had very pretty eyes and someone even had the courage to ask for a picture while she blushed. Percy blushed along with her while his friends teased him about it.

For a few more minutes, Percy painted various things on the children's faces and they all chatted with him animatedly. By the time his substitute, Leo, came, he was almost done with another little girl. When the mother came by to pick her up, she smiled at Percy and thanked him for the wonderful flower chain on her daughter's face. The two went away while the little girl told her mom about how Percy promised to give her a cotton candy the next time they met. The mother only smiled and waved once last time to Percy.

Percy didn't even clean his mess since Leo was using them anyway. He stood up, took off his multi color painted apron and walked back out of the booth. He began walking around the fair with no particular destination in mind. He did stop however in front of a tent made up by a pizza parlor. He ordered, grabbed his meal, and took a seat on the first empty table he saw. Percy began munching on his pizza while he observed the place.

It was crowded. There were a lot of people in the fair today and they all seemed to want to eat in this pizza place. At least Percy managed to get a seat quickly, unlike that certain couple that kept scanning the place for an available spot. Or those elderly people with their grandchildren. Or that teenage girl with two young twin boys…

Percy's eyes seemed to stay on them, particularly the girl. She had curly blonde hair that was high up in a ponytail. _Princess curls, _Percy decided that her hair were like a princess's curls. Its ends touched just below her strong shoulders. She had a light tan, one of those you'd see in the people who lived in the west coast, particularly California. Percy assumed she was from there. She was tall, lean, and with an athletic body. Definitely from California. All that's left to complete the look would be the eyes. But they weren't blue like Percy was expecting. In fact, her eyes were startling gray. Storm clouds. The exact opposite of the sky blue he was thinking of.

"You've got something to say?" Percy heard someone asked and he blinked only to see the girl standing right in front of him with a frown on her face.  
"Oh, uh…" were the only words that left Percy's mouth. She only rolled her eyes. Gods, they look so amazing. _She _looked amazing.

"You've been staring for a while now. If I got some dirt on my face, you better say it."

Percy gulped, not sure what to say to her. "Uh," _Wow, real intelligent Percy. Smooth._

"Boys," he heard her mutter under her breath.

"Hey!" He took offense. "I'm sorry if I was staring at you. I just thought that you're eyes looked beautiful and different." He spitted out and he mentally slapped himself right afterwards.

The girl seemed shocked for a while before her laughter echoed around. It wasn't everyday she heard someone made a fool of himself or herself. Percy decided it was his new favorite sound, her laughter. He would have made himself look stupid over and over again just to hear that. "My eyes, huh? What? You've never seen gray irises before?"

Percy shook his head.

"Well, now you have." The girl looked around one more time, like she was searching for something.

"Are you waiting for someone?" Percy asked when he noticed.

"No," she sighed. "I can't find a table. My brothers wanted to eat here so here we are, despite me telling them that it's impossible to find a seat with a place this crowded. They wouldn't listen. Stubborn brats."

"You could share with me. I'm not with anyone anyway." He quickly offered. There was something about her that was making him want her to stay. If his friends were here, Percy knew he'd be teased non-stop.

"Oh, no. It's fine." The girl began to decline. "I'm sure someone will…"

"Oh, don't be such a party pooper, Annie. He's nice." One of the little boys with her said while he took a seat on one of the chairs on Percy's table. The other one followed immediately. "He offered anyway, right, Bobby?"

The girl with the gray eyes placed her hands on her hips and gave the two a stern look. Percy found it really scary and he wondered how those two boys weren't intimidated. "Matthew, Bobby, it's not polite to…"

"He offered!" The twins said in perfect unison that Percy was surprised and amused. They clearly were a handful.

"Yeah," Percy just said with a smile. "It's really fine with me. You could share."

"See?" The boys said again while crossing their arms and looking at their sister with raised brows.

Annabeth sighed and closed her eyes. "Fine, but you're ordering the food." She told them while she grabbed money from her pocket. A couple of dollars were given and the boys took them immediately and ran off. Annabeth only had enough time to turn and yell, "extra olives!" before they disappeared from sight. She took a seat in the chair across from Percy and smiled at him. "I'm sorry about my brothers."

"No, it's fine. I understand." Percy said. "They seem to be a handful though."

Annabeth agreed. "Thank you for sharing the table. I've been scouting the area for a full minute before I found you staring."

Percy felt his cheeks grew hot again. "Yeah," he said while he rubbed the back of his neck. "Sorry about that. I was just surprised with your eyes."

"I know." The girl said. "A lot of people are." Then she extended her hand. "I'm Annabeth, by the way. And those two are Bobby and Matthew. It won't matter which is which because they'd lie anyway."

Percy smiled at that. Clearly, Annabeth was exasperated with the twins. She was one tough girl if she managed to handle those two. From one look, Percy knew that they meant nothing but trouble.

"My name's Percy Jackson. Nice to meet you, Annabeth." He said and they shook hands.

"So what are you doing in the carnival all alone? Are you waiting for someone?" Annabeth asked.

Percy took another bite at his pizza, took a sip from his soda before answering. "Well, I'm on break right now actually. I face paint on one of the booths over there. I had nothing to do. You?"

"Oh, my brothers dragged me here." Annabeth said. "Our parents weren't home and they told me to take those two wherever they wanted. Somehow, they decided to come here. I can't believe they dragged me all the way. And speaking of those two, where are they?"

As if on cue, the twins, Bobby and Matthew Chase, arrived with a tray of food each. Bobby, or Matthew, placed his in front of Annabeth. There was a slice of pizza in it, with extra olives as requested, and a cup of Coke. The twins shared a tray with four pizzas and two cups of Coke.

"Hey! Make sure you finish that." Annabeth said while she grabbed the change from the boys. "Just how much did you guys spend on just this?"

"Not much. They were pretty cheap." Bobby said while he took a drink from his cup. "Oh, hey, the guy's still here. You owe me a dollar." He told his twin. Annabeth only rolled her eyes whereas Percy chuckled. Twin boys betting reminded him of his friends back home.

"Later! I don't have money on me right now." Matthew said. He took a huge bite out of his pizza before looking at Percy with squinted eyes. "What's your name?"

"My name's Percy Jackson," he replied.

"And what are you doing here in the carnival?" The other boy asked.

Percy thought that this was like Annabeth's questions all over again. She smiled and looked at her to see that she thought so, too. Annabeth just smiled back at him before carefully chewing on her food.

"Well, I face paint on one of the booths. I'm on break right now, but I have to get back soon." He explained.

"Face painting? Like those little girls with flowers on their cheeks?" Matthew's face scrunched up. "Ew!"

Percy laughed. "Not just flowers. You can ask for anything as long as the artist can do it."

"Oh, can you paint the whole face?" Bobby asked, interested.

"Depends." Percy answered. "What do you want?"

"Iron Man!" one said while the other screamed, "Batman!"

"We'll try that." Percy nodded. "After this maybe you'd want to head up to the booth. I'll see if my friends can pull some strings and paint Iron Man and Batman on your faces."

"Yes!" The twins said together.

"We're not going unless you finished everything you bought, you hear?" Annabeth said sternly. The twins immediately grew quiet and chowed down their first pizza, now moving on to the second one. Annabeth was almost done with hers and Percy was left with only one bite. He took it and chewed for a few seconds, swallowed, and then drank the rest of his soda.

"Thanks for that offer, Percy." Annabeth said. "I hope you don't regret that decision."

"How bad can they be? They'll just be sitting down there."

But Percy later found out that the two wouldn't be sitting so still. After they all finished their meal, Percy brought the three to the booth he was working on. With him being back in the area, it was now time for a few of his friends to take their breaks. He willingly took their posts.

"Leo," Percy called. "Are you done over there?"

"Yup, why?"

"I need you to paint Iron Man on this kid." Percy grabbed Bobby's shoulder and showed him to Leo.  
"No! I want Batman! He's the one who wanted Iron Man on his face!" He complained.

"Right, sorry." Percy apologized and dragged the right boy to Leo's booth. "There you go."

"What about me?"

"Jason can take you. Batman, right? Just tell him and he'll do it for you." Percy said. He pointed out which one was Jason and the boy went on his way quickly.

Percy turned around to face Annabeth who quietly stood behind him. "Now as for you, Miss, please take a seat right here so we can start." Percy grabbed his apron and wore it and then took the supplies he'll need.

"Me?" Annabeth asked. "What are you going to put on my face?"

"Paint," Percy answered and Annabeth only rolled her eyes. She obliged and took a seat in front of Percy. She leaned forward so he could closely paint her face and she made sure she was in a comfortable position.

"What are you going to paint?" She quietly asked him again.

"No idea yet. Any requests?" He inquired. Annabeth thought for a moment before shaking her head.

"No idea. Surprise me." She replied.

"Okay,"

It took Percy five minutes to finish Annabeth's painting. He usually didn't take very long but he wanted to make it perfect. He wanted it to be beautiful, just like her. During those five minutes, they decided to play twenty questions, but they exceeded the number. On their twenty-fifth question, Annabeth asked what his favorite hobby was. Percy answered swimming instantaneously. Percy asked what Annabeth wanted to be and she told him that she wanted to be an architect. She wanted to build the best monuments that will last for many, many years_. Something permanent,_ as she said. She asked what his favorite food was and he replied blue cookies, much to Annabeth's surprise.

"Blue cookies?" She asked. "Are there such things?"

"Yeah," Percy said while dipping the brush on black paint. "You just add blue food color in them before baking and they come out in blue."

"Does it affect the taste?" Although Annabeth already knew the answer to the question.

"Nope." He answered.

"What made you want to do blue cookies?"

"Well, my stepfather told my mom and I that there's no such thing as blue food. We proved him wrong by putting blue dye on everything we eat: pasta, cake, pie, and cookies. Even soda. Pissed him off a lot." He smiled at the memory.

"Rebellious, aren't you?" Annabeth said.

"Maybe a little." With one final glide on Annabeth's face, the brush permanently left and Percy said that they were done. Based on the smile that was plastered on his face, he was proud of how it came out.

"How is it?" Annabeth asked him.

"I don't know. You tell me." Percy handed her a mirror and Annabeth took it and raised it to her face to inspect what Percy had done.

The first thing that Annabeth saw were the feathers that etched on the edge of her face. Of course they were out of paint, but they seemed so real. Then she noticed the artistry on her eyes. It made them look big. The colors made her gray irises pop. Looking at the whole picture, Annabeth saw that Percy drew an owl on her face. Well, the head of the owl.

"An owl." She said out loud. "Why?"

Percy shrugged while wiping his hands. "I don't know. I saw your earrings."

Annabeth's eyes immediately flew to her ears and she touched the owl earrings that her mother gave her when she was still young. She smiled at the thought.

"Thank you," she told him. "I love it. It's beautiful, Percy."

"I'm glad you think so." Percy beamed, obviously happy as well.

"Ha!" The twins jumped in front of Annabeth, one with red and yellow paint on his face, the other pure black. "We're superheroes!"

"I see you're done as well." Annabeth said. "Did you thank Percy's friends?"

"Yeah, we did. Aren't they cool? We look like the real deal! I'm not going to wash this off my face." Bobby said and the other twin agreed.

"Hey, Annabeth, what's on your face?" Matthew asked her curiously.

"Can't you guess?" She challenged.

"It's a bird." He pointed out. "The one with the big eyes. The one you like so much."

"It's an owl, Bobby." Matthew said. "She told Percy to draw another owl for her. Honestly, Annabeth, aren't you getting tired of seeing those birds. Your room is full of them. It's creepy!"

"First, I didn't tell Percy to draw them. He did it without knowing I love owls. Second, they are not creepy. Owls are intelligent birds of prey. They are magnificent creatures." Annabeth stated in a defensive manner.

'Whatever." The twins grumbled. "Hey, can we go home now? We're going to miss the show we watch every evening. Didn't mom ask you to buy something for her on the way? We'll just have enough time for it. Come on!"

"Fine, fine. We're going." Annabeth sighed and grumbled about something else. She turned to Percy who was cleaning the brushes he used on her. "Hey, Percy." She called for him. "We need to go. The boys want to watch something and mom asked me to buy some groceries along the way. I'm sorry. Thanks for the painting though. It's really beautiful."

"No problem." Percy answered although Annabeth thought she saw the slightest disappointment in his eyes. Was he sad that they were leaving? "Have a safe trip home. I had fun today. Really."

Annabeth stared at Percy and wondered for a while. She stood there biting her lip, thinking. Her twin brothers snapped her out of her thoughts though.

"Come on, Annabeth!" The twins tugged on her arm. "We're going to miss the show!"

"Yeah. You two walk ahead, I'll catch up." She told them and they did as they were told. Bobby and Matthew ran out of the booth with a final wave to Percy and his friends. Annabeth ignored her brothers and walked over to Percy's supplies. She looked for the brushes that he still haven't cleaned, grabbed one of them and dipped it on the closest paint she saw: gray. Annabeth grabbed Percy's hand and scribbled something on his arm. When she double-checked if what she wrote was right, she looked up at Percy and stared into his sea green eyes.

"Call me tonight." She said. It came out as an order, but Percy didn't mind. He looked down to see Annabeth had written down her number on his arm in gray paint. The next thing he knew was that Annabeth had kissed him on the cheek. He furiously blushed at the gesture. When he quickly looked up, he simply nodded and gulped as the gray-eyed girl smiled and walked off to follow her brothers.

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Love always,

_Greek Wise Girl_


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